NIRT: Functionalized Nanowires for Electromechanical and Optical Detection of Biomolecules with Ultrahigh Sensitivity and Specificity

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS) are emerging as a most promising technology to realize new devices to sense and control our physical and chemical environment with unprecedented sensitivity. However, NEMS also present engineers with unprecedented challenges in materials processing, device design, fabrication and integration. This research project aims to present an innovative solution to the challenges of batch fabrication of mechanical and optical devices at the nanoscale and interfacing with external probes. It will realize addressable arrays of nanowire-based resonant devices by employing the Vapor-Liquid-Solid method of nanowire, selective catalyst nanocluster deposition methods, novel nanogap device design based on spacer lithography, and novel coupling architectures to excite and detect the fundamental modes of the nanowires. These nanodevices will offer bifunctional detection of chemical species both through the effect of the adsorbed mass on the resonance frequency and through the optical detection of the chemical signature in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Upon successful completion, the project will have demonstrated a new paradigm for batch fabrication at the nanoscale. The research will have immediate impact on the emerging field of NEMS and furthermore enable a new generation of devices to be designed to probe the properties of materials at the nanoscale. The nanowire sensing structures proposed may represent the first example of a nanodevice capable of extracting mass signal and chemical bonding signal simultaneously so that the real-time and parallel deterministic monitoring of multiple species will be possible. Such devices might significantly impact fields ranging as far as drug discovery, medical diagnosis, proteomics and environmental detection of biological agents. This research grant will provide funds to support the education of a new generation of nanoscale manufacturing engineers.